, 1887-07-17
TEXAS, AGRICULTURAL ANTS.
Peculiar Habit of the Little CrentureI
work ON an Insect Farm.

Peculiar Habits of the Little Creatures.
work on an Insect Farm.
''Go to the ant, thou sluggard, never
impressed me with such force as when
last summer | was watching the busy
habits of the little Creature known to the
Texans as the ''agriCulturals. These
insect farmers are probably, next to the
bee. the most industrious animals that
live. They SOW and reap and garner and
pass the winter in luxurious ease on the
results of their summers toll. l found
the interesting creatures in northern cen
trail Texas, just on the border of the
prairie country, and passed many hours
watching their habits.
In early spring, when the sun has
driven the chill from the soil, the ants
come forth from their winter retreat in
the ground and, after a few days of lazily
basking in the sunshine, they wake up to
the duties before them and one and all
set to work. The remnants of the last
years crops still stand in the form of tall
stems of grass, and the first work is to
level these grassy forests. Day after day
they toll with their undertaking. In a
week, by the aid of the wmd which
blows the debris away, a circular space
for several feet around the ant hill has
been cleared, and it looks remarkably
like the clearings made by the American
backwoodsman. The grass stumps pro-
iect everywhere. Soon vegetation again
springs up under the influence of the warm
air and the early showers. Some Texans
nave told me that after removing the
dead grass the agriculturals carry seeds
from their granaries and actually plant
them, but l annot verify this statement,
for my observation did not commence
until the insect farm was a mass Of fresh,
green sprouts. However, Judging from
the other habits of the creature, this does
not seem unreasonable. These statements
would appear to be still further borne
out by the fact that on the clearing one
kind of grass, the ''ant rice, is by far
the most common, while in the surround
ing prairie it is very scattered.
After the crops have grown an inch or
two, the insects work day by day remov-
ing weeds and all Improbable growths.
Not a thing excepting the ant rice is al
lowed to grow IN the clearing, and the
steady, persevdfing work Of the farmers
is rewarded in the autumn by an excel
lent harvest. When the seeds are ripe
the busiest season of the year has arrived.
From morning until night the little
workers stream out of their home in all
directions, each returning with its load of
n single seed and depositing it in the I'M
foreground storehouse. l cut into one of
these ant hills to satisfy my curiosity and
found there several pints of seeds. The
little creatures had built a complicated
series of ~storehouses, one above the other,
carrying the excavated earth to the sur
face. While | was at work with my de-
structive spade the utmost CONSERVATION
and alarm pervaded the entire colony,
and all rushed about in a frantic man
ner; but when l had finished, the perse-
vering creatures stoically surveyed the
damage, and one and all turned to the
work of repairing with such vigor that in
n few days not a trace of the disturbance
could be seen.
In gathering the seeds the ants take all
that fall to the ground, and when no
more can be found they climb to the tip
ends of the grass stems and take every
seed. When all nave been gathered, they
start out in various directions through
the surrounding grass forest, going sew
eral hundred feet in the intricate maze,
and always return with seeds. After the
crop is all gathered the ants evidently
rave husking parties, for they stream out
one by one with a husk. The seeds when
stored away are always cleaned. This is
the way these marvellous creatures work
r~ivaling in their method and eXcelling IN
perseverance our most successful farmers,
and doing it all with nothing but the
tools which nature has given them.
Ralph S. Tarr in American AgriCulturis.,